Regenerating a Service Structure

If a service structure was generated from a template or from another structure, you can regenerate the service structure from its origin.

You can set up email notifications to alert users when the regeneration is complete. For more information, see Workflow Email Notifications. For more information about editing a service structure, see Service Structure Editing.

You can choose to regenerate a service structure from the template used to create it. The Regenerate context menu action uses the template that was selected when the service structure was created. For more information, see Service Structure Templates.

The following apply when generating information structures and publication structures from templates:

• New information elements from the template will be added to the generated structure. The new information element is added as the last element in the structure, group, or section.

• If the generated service structure has any changes, the root of the structure will be iterated or revised, depending on the lifecycle preference settings. See Preferences for Regenerating a Service Structure for more information.

• Any information elements that were removed from the template are also removed from the generated structure.

• Manual changes made to the previously generated service structure are kept after the regeneration, including objects added to the generated structure afterward.

• If any part of the template used to generate the structure originally is checked out, the regeneration uses the last checked in version.

• A line number cannot be copied when a line number has been updated manually on the generated structure, or when new items are added to the generated structure.

The following situations also apply when generating an information structure from a template:

• Siblings with no line numbers will have no line numbers in the generated structure.

• If all siblings have line numbers, all line numbers are carried over to the generated information structure, as long as the line numbers do not conflict with existing siblings in the generated information structure.

• New line numbers are assigned to nodes that had line numbers in the template if the original line numbers cannot be used due to a conflict.

The following situation applies when generating a publication structure from a template:

• If new items are added to the publication structure and these items do not have a line number, these items are inserted as the first or last child within the publication structure.

You can generate a publication structure from an information structure using the Generate Publication Structure shortcut menu action on the information structure’s Structure tab. When a publication structure is generated from an information structure, a link is maintained between the resulting publication structure and the source information structure. For more information, see Generating a Publication Structure.

To regenerate the publication structure, select Regenerate from the context menu action. This menu item is available for publication structures that have been generated from an information structure.

You cannot change the applicability for an information structure before regenerating an updated publication structure. The regenerated publication structure always uses the original applicability.

The following situations apply to a regenerated publication structure:

• If the line numbers cannot be copied, new line numbers are assigned for all nodes in the publication structure, but the order of the information structure is retained.

• If only some of the siblings have line numbers, all siblings are renumbered. They are sorted by line number, then by type, then by name.

For information on setting preferences for these shortcut menu actions, see Preferences for Regenerating a Publication Structure.

The following rules define the business logic applied on a regeneration.

• A regenerated publication structure is a new iteration or revision of the structure that was previously regenerated.

• The filter criteria used to generate the publication structure is re-used during regeneration. To change the filter criteria, you must generate a new publication structure.

• If the node on the generated structure has not changed, it is reused in the new structure.

• If a node or element that was generated has been removed from the source structure, this item is also removed from the regenerated structure.

• If a node or element is removed from a previously generated structure and reinserted to the same structure later, any subsequent regeneration of that structure results in an empty node being generated for that node. To move elements in the generated structure while retaining a reliable structure for regeneration, do the following:

• Empty nodes (information structure groups or publication structure sections without content) are removed.

• If a new node has been added to the source structure, either a copy of this node is added to the regenerated structure, or the node is reused in the regenerated structure, depending on the type of node. Information elements are always reused.

◦ Newly added nodes are created with the defined object initialization rules (OIRs) for that type.

◦ If no OIRs were defined or a rule was not specified in the OIR, the following rules apply:

▪ Options, team templates, life cycle templates, versioning schemes, and global attributes and their values are copied.

• If a new element has been added to a node, it is also added to the regenerated structure.

◦ These elements include textual information elements, documents, graphic information elements, and parts lists.

◦ New groups or nested information structures are converted to sections or publication structures in the regenerated structure.

• Manual additions of nodes or information elements on the structure to be regenerated are retained during regeneration. Even if the item does not appear in the source structure, the regenerate action does not remove the information element or node.

Information elements or nodes that were removed from the target structure are added back during regeneration if these items also appear in the source structure. To ensure these items are not added, you must remove them from the source.